Yeah, this really sucks. Lego can easily make far more money from selling these at a reasonable price to thousands of fans and children instead of this SDCC nonsense.

Shellhead, at this point I don't trust Lego to release anything to the mass market. When I contacted Lego about the Iron Man and Captain America Intl. Toy Fair minifigures, they really didn't understand. They believe the Toy Fair figures are similar enough to the regular retail release minifigs in the Avengers sets. They also told me that there are no plans to make them available elsewhere. Toy buyers were given minifigures of characters that will never be at their stores to be bought and sold in the first place. Ironic. I mean, Lego fans would buy each and every one of these minifigures if included in sets. How can one arm of the Lego company understand that there is a huge market for their product, yet another arm of Lego woefully underestimates demand and severely limits otherwise popular products? One cannot even purchase these. You have to win them or something. But I digress here.

I would tend to believe that a Venom or Symbiote costume Spidey would be a foregone conclusion for a retail set. But I think the same way about the other three SDCC minifigures and the two Toy Fair ones. Thus far, the only three previous Lego minifigures offered at either Toy Fair or SDCC that have not been made available at retail are the Iron Man and Cap from Toy Fair, and the movie based Green Lantern from SDCC last year.

Besides this here list, I suggest everyone who reads this contact Lego's Customer Service Dept. I'm going to ask them about future availability of these SDCC minifigures, as well as adding my extreme displeasure at intentionally limiting them. I mean, c'mon! SDCC special packaging should be enough for an exclusive of this nature.

Oh. Updated.

_________________'...because the minute a little girl is trampled by 100 teenage girls trying to get to Justin Beiber at the Tea Cups, you will be wondering why the hell we make poor Justin Beiber stand in a 30 minute line and create an unsafe atmosphere.'

But we got Iron man and Cap in the Avengers sets. Only GL is MIA thus far.

Unless you're talking about those SPECIFIC versions of the characters. To me, the Lego figures are so small that I don't worry about variations the way I do with larger action figures.

Lego is a JUGGERNAUT with it's fingers in more pies than most of us can count. I don't think talking to custmoer service is going to make any difference whatsoever. You're talking about a company with its own stores and theme parks.

Make some friends at some Lego fan sites. That's probably your best option now.

But good luck to everybody!

_________________Leave it up to a billionaire to buy the world some time --- Tony Stark

That's cool, Super Shaft! Do I see some He Who Must Not Be Named in there?

Yep Shellhead, I'm referring to those specific minifig decos. It really gnaws at me, as I'm in the process of switching collecting gears from JLU/DC stuff over to Lego. The extreme limited editions of these so-called exclusive minifigures is baffling and counterproductive, not to mention killing the Golden Goose a la Playmates' Tapestry Picard.

As for Lego, I received my response from them regarding the issue. Unlike Mattel's occasional Matty snark, anytime I've had to speak or write to Lego, they have been nothing but considerate and understanding. I applaud them for that. They said that they would pass along my comments to those at Lego who handle such decisions. That's the very least that I or any other Lego fan can ask. Maybe if enough of us spoke up, it would indeed change their minds and help them to reconsider. They at least understand, even if other persons in their very same company do not. I thoroughly urge anyone who reads this and cares to go ahead and let them know how you feel about it. It worked a bit with Mattel and JLU, and that was Mattel, y'know?

_________________'...because the minute a little girl is trampled by 100 teenage girls trying to get to Justin Beiber at the Tea Cups, you will be wondering why the hell we make poor Justin Beiber stand in a 30 minute line and create an unsafe atmosphere.'

A blurb I read somewhere else claimed that these specifically would never be made available at retail.

Things like the silver/gold Boba Fett as an exclusive or the chrome stormtroopers seem much more reasonable than this batch of mostly unique characters to me. Even the Iron Man/Cap pack wouldn't bother me if I didn't particularly hate that giant Iron Man helmet from the retail line. Having three unique characters and the most iconic variant of a fourth character be very limited convention exclusives does seem kinda thoughtless towards the die-hard collector.

_________________'...because the minute a little girl is trampled by 100 teenage girls trying to get to Justin Beiber at the Tea Cups, you will be wondering why the hell we make poor Justin Beiber stand in a 30 minute line and create an unsafe atmosphere.'

You are never too late to a thread that is by nature, wishful thinking

You have been added, weizie.

Updated!

_________________'...because the minute a little girl is trampled by 100 teenage girls trying to get to Justin Beiber at the Tea Cups, you will be wondering why the hell we make poor Justin Beiber stand in a 30 minute line and create an unsafe atmosphere.'